By a 7-0 vote, the court agreed with the Board of Commissioners on Grievances & Discipline’s recommendation that Terbeek be barred from practicing law because he acted with a “dishonest motive” in tapping a client’s $15,000 escrow fund for his personal use.

When his client sued to obtain the funds held in escrow, Terbeek responded that the “conditions necessary for his release of the funds had not been met, concealing the fact that the funds were no longer in his trust account,” the Supreme Court said.

A court later entered a judgment against him for $15,000 plus interest, $2,500 in attorney fees, and a $750 penalty.

Terbeek, 65, admitted at a hearing that he took the escrow money. He had been practicing law since 1973.

The Supreme Court found him guilty of: violating disciplinary rules requiring attorneys to hold funds belonging to clients separate from their own funds; engaging in fraudulent conduct; dishonesty or misrepresentation; “conduct prejudicial to the administration of justice, and conduct that adversely reflects on the attorney’s fitness to practice law.”